What are you currently reading?

[finnbow]

Originally Posted by piece-itpete

Plus, I'll never look at the Irish the same again. Bravo!

Pete

How are you going to look at me now? As someone worthy of respect or a lowdown drunk?

[merrylander]

Originally Posted by piece-itpete

I just can't do opera either. On the rare occasion I MUST I'm always waiting for this lady.

Pete

Being married to a former coleratura soprano who was compared to Jenny Lind by her teachers, the explanation of why opera singers tend to get oversized is simple. The do not dare eat before a performance, but after it is over - wow! Plus if you eat late then retire for the night it tends to muck up your digestion.

The explanation for obesety in America is MSG (also know as Hydrolized vegetable protein) it is overused especially in fast foods and reportedly even in Starbucks coffee. It is addictive and make people eat more. Don't hold your breath waiting for the government to ban it.

[piece-itpete]

Finn, I'll alternate as political differences warrant ROTFLMAO!

That's interesting Rob. I always though too that it might affect their voices, um, goodly

Pete

[d-ray657]

A friend lent me a recent Mickey Mantle Biography The Last Boy, Mickey Mantle and the End of America's Childhood, by Jane Leavy. Ms. Leavy was sportswriter for the Washington Post for several years and a NYC native. She brings the perspective of one who grew up idolizing No. 7, but faced the difficult task of addressing his career as a reporter. She is a terrific researcher and historian, providing plenty of perspective for the factors that affected the talent and character of an American Icon.

One particularly compelling story is her description of the circumstances under which the Mick grew up. His father worked in the zinc mines, as did many families in a region comprised of corners of Oklahoma, Missouri and Arkansas. The conditions were difficult and dangerous. There was the constant threat of cave-ins, but a more consistent threat of lung disease from the dust and rock slivers the miners inhaled. The coal companies developed a practice of providing the miners with an annual medical examination, not for the purpose of providing treatment for the mining-related maladies, but to determine which miners were damaged goods, and therefore expendable..

Ms. Leavy brings science into the picture to answer some of the myths regarding Mickey's "tape measure" home runs (for which no tape measure was actually used). Her description of the medical conditions that affected Mickey's career is also supported by reports from medical experts. Mantle played through so much pain that he would put Cal Ripken to shame. By the end of his career, he was playing with virtually no meniscus and ragged tendons.

The book honestly addresses the Mick's faults, and how the press at that time largely ignored them. Ultimately Ms. Leavy describes Mickey Mantle as a flawed but extraordinary person. He possessed physical talents that steroid induced muscle could not approximate (described by one doctor as a physical genius). It also leaves the reader with the gnawing thought of what might have been. For people with even a passing interest in baseball history, I highly recommend this book.

Regards,

D-Ray

[BlueStreak]

Reading Keirkegaards "Purity of Heart"----again.

"But he that in truth becomes at one with himself, he is in the silence. And this is indeed like a changing of raiment: to strip oneself of all that is as full of noise as it is empty, in order to be hidden in the silence, to become the open..........the deeper the stillness, the better."

Dave

[hillbilly]

Was reading comments about the Funniest Movie Line Ever , and I clicked the link. Damn, as I was watchin' the video, it caught me off guard and I nearly choked on my sweet tea.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkzV5...layer_embedded

[d-ray657]

Had heard so much about Gore Vidal's reputation as a novelist, that I finally picked one up. Just finished reading Empire. It is set in the gilded age, and presents an extremely cynical picture of our political/economic system. Teddy Roosevelt is made out to be quite the fool. The book should interest feminists, as the protagonist is a young woman trying to establish herself in the publishing industry despite the limited view of women's role in turn of the (19th) century society.

I'm glad to have now read something by Vidal, but I'm not sure I want to undertake a mission to pursue his entire bibliography. Next on the list is Studs Terkel's Will the Circle be Unbroken (Reflections on death, rebirth, and a hunger for faith) It is certainly more down to earth than Vidal's work. The man was a helluva listener.

Regards,

D-Ray

[piece-itpete]

Neat. I'm reading the newest thing I've read in ages - the 9-11 commission report.

Pete

[Dondilion]

Conversations with American Writers: CHARLES RUAS

Publisher: Knof

Interviews conducted by Charles Ruas of the following luminaries:

Eudora Welty
Norman Mailer
Truman Capote
Gore Vidal
TennesseeWilliams
Marguerite Young

William Burroughs
Joseph Heller
Susan Sontag
E.L. Doctorow

Toni Morrison
Paul Theroux
Robert Stone
Scott Spencer

For the most part interesting, insightful and at times witty.

[finnbow]

I just finished "In the Garden of Beasts" by Erik Larson, a book about prewar Germany. I'm now reading "The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris" by David McCullough.

As for Vidal's work, Don, I think "Lincoln" is his best effort. A very good book.